MOTOR FATALITY.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16853, 5 June 1920, Page 6

MOTOR FATALITY.

! —— ~ ! INQUEST ON F. W. GRIFFIN.

j NEGLIGENT • DRIVING. The inquo'. ivr.s ronti:: ued yesterday, ; before Air .S. E. McCarthy, Coroner, i corferainj; the death of William Arthur , Griffin, who was killed on Page's road a•; about 6.20 p.m. on May 22nd, as a ! result of a collision hotr.-ecn a inoror- ' cir he was in and a trnmcar. J Detective-Sergeant T. "W". R odd am conducted the examination lor the police. Mr J. H. Upham watched the i proceedings on behalf of iho Christurcli Tramway Board, Jlr .T. R. Cun- . jnjrh.iia represented Robert. Drace Fori *yti). the driver of the motor-far, and !>.),• K. I>. Sargent represented the de- { ccji-red's, rehitives. | I'obert R-uce Forsyth. mechanic, re- | siding at 55 St. Albans street, said he ' wris the oweer and driver of ihe ear in which deceased and he were in when ilie accident happened, lie could not relate exactly' whon nnd where he vwt GriHiii 011 the day of the aeeident. lie thought lie met him late in the afternoon. at the International Harvester Company'* office.' He could not quite rccollec-i vhether they got into his car then. fie recollected taking a parcel i In the C.'i ri sf church Post Office, but ho could .not recollect whether it was Saturday afternoon or Saturday morning, i He cuu'tu not say where he went io then 'viih Oriiiiu in the ear. It seemed to lie that It is lapse of memory War, caused j by the injuries; lie. had received at, the | i uvie of the accident; his wliolo mind I s»'o!i;ed concentrated on the few mo- ' nients just prior to the accident-. He , could remember seeing something ahead. He could not -ay how many mile.; pev hour he was going at the time of the accident, but he did not think it wsife fast. Tie remembered there was"a' slight thought in his mind of p.a«&ms to the left of the fcrsmear— he decided to-pass to the right, lie had next just a slight recollection of being in the ambulance for about a .second. So far as he couhl. recollect ho v.as i:i his normal condition jusfc prior to the aeeident. Ho' could, not recollect. having had any liquor that afternoon when he was in the 'deceased';; company. He might- have. He remenibored having a nun and cloves, bub he, did not remember whether it was on the Friday afternoon or the Saturday, he had no recollection of being in the Richmond Club with the deceased prior to ihe accident.

To Mr C'uningham : lie was not addicted to firm!: at ail. Be iv:is a member <;f the Richmond Club, but visited it Tiu'elv.

Dr.»J. C'. Pfiinnan suid lie arrived on the scene of the accident at about 6.40 Ti m. GriHin .was dead when he saw him, and Forsyth was standing on tho opposite side of the road in a dazed condition. It would bo a very diUkuilt question to answer what • was the condition of Forsyth as far as sobriety was concerned, for the reason that he had boon rendered unconscious, so that- evident ly ho had l:ad a little concussion, but lie certainly had had a fair amount of liquor, judging from his breath. Witness described his post-mortem of deceased's body. The stomach contents sin ('lt of beer. The cause of death wan injury to the skull. Death must have been nractieallv. instantaneous.

To Sir Upham : The injuries- were consistent with deceased being thrown violently forward, and into collision with tlm mallear, and not, lie thought, with being run over by tho tramcar. To the Court: Theact that he found alcohol a day and a half after tho accident would show probably that a considerable quantity had been taken before dentil. 1

Francis Joseph Smith, motorman of tho tram which the car rati into, said the "tram Mas travelling at a rate of about five miles an hour at the time of the ' accident. The motor-car had •no lights. It •was about from 115 to 1-0 yards away -when.lie-first saw it. Considering the damaged state of the motor-ear, it must liave "been travelling very fast. As soon as he saw the car he threw off his power and sounded his gong. Then, -when he saw the car taking no notice lie kept on ringing, and applied his brake in order to give the motor-car a chance to get off the lino. The driver made an attempt at the finish, hut left- it too late. Witness applied /the emergency brake when tho car was fifteen yar<& away, and tho

tram travelled five yards before the impact. took place. Tho left-hand side of the motor-car • struck the loft-hand front of the tram-car. "When the cars stopped, the motor-car was at right angles to the tram. Witness only saw Forsyth, who was hanging over the driving wheel after the accident, and appeared to be dead. Forsyth said: "I'm all right." Witness, in order to clear .the tram of the motor-car, backed his car about three yards, and it was then that the body of Griffin was discovered lying on the track. When the impact took place it was possible that deceased was thrown from the motor-car under the tram-car. When discovered, deceased . was alive but he did not speak. In witness's opinion he expired very shortly afterwards. Forsyth smelt very strongly of liquor.] Witness did all he could to obviate the accident.'

To Mi: Cuningham: There were several high trees in the vicinity. Going towards Xew Brighton, the rails were well over to the left, and all the traffic went to the right. There -was very littlo space for a motor-car to get through unless it went down on the grass. He -would not swear that the top of the rails was Husk with the road. To the Coroner: Tho motor-car was not prevented from getting out of the way by projecting rails. The righthand -wheel got across the line, the "left or near'wheel ran into the tram-ear. The road at the scene of the accidcnt rose in the direction of Christchureii. The motor-car was on the higher level as it approached the tram-car; it had over 400vds clear to see the tram-car. There was no rise in the road that would.obstruct the view. Tlia road was perfectly clear but for the motor-car and tho tram-car.

Dr. Barnett, house surgeon fit the Christchr.rch Hospital, said he attended to Forsyth at tho out-patients' department of the hospital after the accident. Forsyth's behaviour and c-on-dition wore consistent with. a person under the influence «of liquor. To Mr Cuningham: A crack on the chin was not sufficient alone to explain Forsyth's behaviour aud condition. "William John Walrond, steward at tli© Richmond Working Men's Club, said that on Saturday, May 22nd last deceased came into the club about oh that evening, and put down bags similar to those produced in Court. One bag contained an empty gallon jar, the other, two "square-riggers." The jar and bottles were filled and returned to tho bags. Griffin was quite sober, and did not, so far as witness knew, have any drink in the club. At about (3 p.m. -witness saw Forsyth in the club. Forsyth never -went near tho bar. He. had the appearance of being under the influence of liquor.

"William Alexander Mcßratney and Arthur Gay Reid, conductors on the tram-car, Caspar Gray "Weblc-y, Wil'iiam Laurence Sampson, William Howard Phipps, Frank Punm, and Constable Peter Swan also gave evidence.

The Goroner recorded a verdict that Motorman Smith was sober, and the tram-car at the time of the accident was travelling at a speed of about livo" taiies.an hour. The'motor-car was being driven after dark at a fast pace, though it was impossible now to estimate the approximate rate of speed. The evidence did not disclose any ncgligence on the part of the motorman. The driving bv Robert Bruce Forsyth was negligent in three particulars :—

(a) Forsyth was under the influence of liquor. (b) The motor-car was being driven at a fast pace after dark._ (c) Foxsyth either failed or "was unable to keep a proper look-out. Such negligent driving -was the sole cause of the death of deceased.